Academy Days
by LoneHowler
Summary: Third in the series of Invader Dib.
1. Chapter 1

Academy Days Chapter 1 

(I don't own Invader Zim. This as I believe it is the final storey in the Invader Dib line which includes "Invader Dib" "The Bitters Invasion" "The Irken Explorers" Found only on my deviant art account. And now this one the final storey line, hopefully my character doesn't run to much amuck through it this time, she does have a big part to play in the first part of the storey but nothing much planned for her after that, I have a distraction planned that should keep her paws out of things, putting her in a storey is like giving Zim a big new weapon, Chaos, confusion and massive destruction)

recap Dib has turned himself into a were-Irken Earth is now under the Irken empire but is being currently run in trust by Gaz and Tak for Dib who is going to the Empire to be trained in Irken diplomacy, Zim is returning to the Empire to be trained as a Explorer he will be sent into the Dhahmon territory to gather information for the empire so they can send invaders, Several Humans are also traveling to the empire for soldier training to see if the humans can really fit in as full citizens of the empire, one of them is a legendary monster to the Irkens, can she really work peacefully in the heart of the Irken Empire?

The trip to Irk would take nearly a year; Dib hadn't realized how far away it was. Kim had seemed to know, her ship was towing a large crate behind, she refused to let anyone near it when they had their docking time with the massive, Dib suspected it was loaded with snacks, the smaller Irkens seemed not to get much in the way of snack rations and would greedily snatch any unattended goodies, they wouldn't dare touch the great devourers lest they get eaten in replacement, Kim did try to discourage the eating Irkens myth repeatedly claiming that Irken blood made her sick yet the myth persisted, "oh well at least they leave the crate alone" Kim commented as they walked to the training area, they weren't lazing about while en-route to Irk although the massive didn't have a full training facility they still could practice with its simulator, Zim was still very nervous around the tall human female he had rushed ahead the second they had landed. The Tallest were glad at this behavior if Zim was busy avoiding the great devourer he wasn't getting into trouble.

"Just what is in that crate anyways" "A promise to be kept" Dib sighed Kim wasn't the most talkative traveling companion she had switched back to wearing the black duster but wore uniform pants and a blue t-shirt Dib himself was similarly garbed wearing his signature black trench coat, the other humans along had also gone back to wearing their normal attire with at least one piece of uniform thrown in, everything looked the same on the Irken ships all the Irkens wore uniforms, there was little to break up the monotony so the humans rebelled a bit by being individual, the Tallest hated it but allowed it while on route but told them that there would be a strict uniform policy at the academy the humans could wear whatever they wanted in their free time.

The training facilities were nothing like Dib had encountered most of it was just comfortable chairs they sat in and simply jacked into the training program, Dib's pak would connect when he sat down Kim plugged a wire into the back of her neck where she claimed the explorers had inserted a probe, the rest of the humans had to make do with what looked like VR helmets similar to Zim used on him in the muffin throwing incident.

Once they were connected they were in a world that seemed real. Dib was astounded to find himself Irken in this reality and so was Kim. "What's going on? Why aren't we human" "The reality has to be programmed for new life forms, since each of us has an Irken ID signal it will automatically choose that form for us, I don't know what it will do for the other humans perhaps they will get to choose a alien form to use"

"Lets get started I'd like to see how much I have forgotten" "I bet not much I found your file, you were quite good back in the day" Kim whirled around "How did you find my file? Kim was a common name even back then on Irk." "Yours was the only training record without a smeet number attached, I couldn't find much else all of your experiment files are locked so only the tallest can see, and even Zim with his amazing skills can't get at them"

"Now you are being friendly all of a sudden, aren't you afraid of what I can do in here"

"You can't eat me here and now you are not taller than Zim" "I see you didn't read all of my training files then" Kim said with a evil looking grin

"Recruits this is a team based mission in groups of three you will try to infiltrate a enemy stronghold and reach the control room the first team to do so will receive the usual snack reward anyone coming in under the allotted time limit will also receive a smaller snack reward, GO" Zim's Dib's and Kim's wrists gained a glowing hologram shaded blue indicating that they were on the same team, a timer lit up on the holo and started counting down, all three of them ran to find the stronghold it wasn't easy it blended into a mountain and what didn't looked like Fort Knox "Gophers always have more than one entrance to their warren" Kim muttered.

"What are you suggesting?" "We should try and find their bolt hole, it won't be guarded" the moved to the backside of the mountain and searched for anything that looked out of place, soon they found an odd colored bolder and pushed it out of the way, they heard weapons fire in the distance it sounded like many teams were trying the direct approach, inside they carefully went along soon they came across other teams whose job it was apparently to defend the stronghold. Zim soon discovered why Kim had such a exemplary record, she didn't hesitate 'Killing' the other trainees the majority were presumably humans who had chosen impressive looking aliens, nearing their objective they came across another Irken team, they were dispatched as well but Kim then smelling the 'blood' started making retching noises and had to be lead along to the goal they finished in record time the simulation ended as soon as her probe was released Kim rushed to a corner and emptied her stomach.

"Ugh, just smelling that again makes me sick" Zim came over and laid a hand on her shoulder "You weren't lying after all. You couldn't eat an Irken if you tried" "That's what I've been saying but no one would listen to me" "Welcome to my world" Dib muttered, they were dispensed their reward Zim tried to wheedle Kim to give him her share of the snacks but she refused "I might get hungry later, and tasting bad or not I might consider Irken on the menu if I didn't have anything on hand" Zim eeped and hid behind Dib but he could tell that she was only joking "You might find Zim hard to swallow now that he is taller" "Ugh all that ego I don't think I could eat all of it" "Victory for Zim!" Dib couldn't join in he was laughing so hard as Kim pretending to hunt the smaller Irken was trying to get behind Dib who Zim was using as a shield. Finally Kim had scooted around to get behind Zim but then looked down at her armload of snacks "Darn cant have both" so she just tapped Zim on his pak "Tag you're it" and she sped off to the living quarters, Zim and Dib both got out their spider legs and followed after Zim didn't realize that he could tag Dib, he was to intent on chasing Kim who had issued the challenge. Dib had gotten far better at using the legs but he still couldn't keep up with Zim or Kim who had made it to her quarters far ahead of Zim. "Home free, maybe next time Zim "Zim is puzzled you are a trained soldier yet you didn't use any of the simulations pak weapons" "Didn't have them when I was trained the packs only contained memories and life support." "You will learn, and then we will win often and receive many snacks for Zim." "Well anyways we might as well enjoy our down time before we have to fly escort fro the massive again, Damn those Resisty for calling off the truce, it didn't take them long to try and attack the damaged massive" Dib yawned "I'm going to sleep for my time off, goodnight" they each went into their assigned rooms which were beside each others.

A few days later they were was flying escort again and Dib had time to muse about things, although Zim was no longer terrified of Kim after she threw up, he still was cautious of her, and Kim was still as secretive as ever. Even though all had a wary friendship they were unstoppable as a team, it was usually after a successful training mission that the group was able to get along well but afterwards Zim would usually go back to being the egotistical Irken who claimed that he didn't need anyone to be great, Kim would go off somewhere on her own which left Dib to make sure that Zim didn't accidentally destroy anything important. Many of the other human teams wanted the Tallest to rotate them through the teams to give others a chance at being successful; The Tallest of course refused and wouldn't give their reasons. It was going to be a long trip to Irk.

Six months later they arrived at Conventia, there was going to be a bit of a ceremony to make the humans traveling to Irk citizens, it was just going to be a big show and excuse for lasers and smoke machines, the humans were fitted with atmosphere adjusters which rested on their backs much like a pak only bigger since they didn't connect with the lungs directly, they needed a bit extra to pump up the oxygen to the humans mouths the only exceptions were Dib who had his pak and Kim who flat out refused. Once they were beamed down to the surface Kim didn't seem to have any trouble breathing so the matter of her having one was dropped. They waited back stage they would come out on the stage when the tallest introduced them. This time Kim would simply be human for this event, the Tallest didn't want to incite panic in such a crowded place, it was one thing that they knew who she was it was another to see the beast itself.

The ceremony was long and drawn out all the humans were thoroughly bored, Dib noticed that Kim was especially fidgety, Zim got to sit this out since he was born Irken, finally it drew to a close and everyone went and ate at the banquet, which included a lot of snacks. Dib couldn't find Kim anywhere usually she wouldn't pass up a opportunity for Irken snacks, Dib couldn't leave as he seemed to be the main attraction to the Irkens who had shown up to the event, and soon he discovered why Kim hadn't stuck around, the Irkens who weren't at the battle still harbored a prejudice against the great devourer and the only reason they were halfway friendly with Dib was because he was part Irken, the other humans were getting a bit of a cold shoulder. The party couldn't end soon enough for Dib.

A few days later the massive was attacked by the Resisty , they were still a few months away the battle ended quickly because even damaged little could stand against the Massive, some of the smaller ships took damage including Kim's ship Dib found her in the hanger franticly checking on her crate, hearing someone approach she quickly bolted it closed, "is your promise ok?" "For now it's fine but time is running out, I don't know if I can make it in time, I just hope the Tallest don't have anymore stops they haven't told us about" "Just what is your promise anyways?" "One that I made to someone special so very long ago" she seemed sad, Dib reached to pat her on the shoulder she brushed him off and walked away. Dib puzzled after her, she was trying to fit in with the Irkens, she never used here werewolf form and the only one she joked about eating was Zim who knew it for only a joke, Zim and Dib were the only ones who knew about her throwing up after that first training exercise anyone they told wouldn't believe them even if she always looked a bit green after each, training mission that involved a Irken death, Whatever her promise was, he knew it couldn't be bad for the Empire, when she was ready to tell she would.


	2. Chapter 2

Academy Days Chapter 2 

(I don't own Invader Zim Kim is mine though)

They finally arrived at Irk, the Massive docked at a repair station and the rest of the ships flew down to their designated parking, few were allowed to park on Irk itself most had to have their ships docked on one of the moons, recruits were rarely given even the privilege of owning a ship let alone using one in their spare time, the humans were no exception most of them wouldn't have much leave time to use their ships so they were parked on a remote moon and transported down to the dormitories, Zim, Dib and Kim were given a residence where they could park all three of their vehicles, it was a bit of a surprise that they were being housed together, each had their own separate room. "I think it's because were the only one who can rein in each other, face it nothing has exploded yet and Kim hasn't strangled a Irken yet" "Not yet but they are getting on my nerves" "Zim has been busy keeping Dib from poking his nose where it doesn't belong and explaining some of the stuff that has changed to Kim" "See if one of us were left to our own devises Chaos would ensue"

They unpacked and argued about rooms for a bit "I'm not going to be stuck in the middle room again you both snore!" "And I don't want to be between two guys and for that matter you snore as well and with my sensitive hearing it sounds like someone's bringing down an entire forest!" "Zim should get the room with the window! So I don't have to smell you stink beasts" they ended up having to draw lots no one was truly happy but it was a fair arrangement, after they were done it was straight to the academy which was within walking distance to get their class schedules. They were all frowning when they returned "So little free time, it wasn't like this when Zim trained for invader" "I think they are trying to rush us through" "I hope I don't burn out this looks harder that what Dad described university to be" they compared schedules to see if any of their free time matched up only once every week it did. "Zim why don't you choose what we do for the first month since we know so little about Irk" "Fine by me my info's over three hundred years out of date" "Yes Zim controls the first month and you will do my bidding and we will have fun" "we have a few days before training starts lets say we explore a bit" everyone agreed and set out the headed to a amusement area the crowds were thick and they stuck out like a sore thumb mainly because they were taller than the average Irken fortunately the rides were adjustable to any aliens body type and they had a blast, they neared a tent boasting the galaxy's strangest creatures when a big crowd let out, they were jostled and pushed soon they were separated, when the crowd let up only Zim and Dib were standing near the tent, Kim was nowhere in site "How could we loose her she's six foot tall!" "Because she wanted to disappear, Zim knows that she was created to blend into any environment when she wants, the tallest told me to alert them I she did this." His communicator popped out from his pak "My Tallest, she is on the move" "Her promise! Tell me Zim just where was her crate stored?" "Near the center, even high ranking recruits are not allowed much in the way of personal items, even SIR bots" "Zim we have to move quickly we have no idea what's in that crate of hers" "Do you think she lied to the Tallest about not wanting to destroy the empire anymore" "I don't know, but why would she ditch us?" "Let's go"

It was to easy to slip into the crowd duck around a corner and change into an Irken, the legends apparently forgot that little detail about her, she pulled off her human clothes reveling the soldier uniform beneath as well as a pak, it had hurt to reattach it after so many years, the life support systems still worked thankfully. Had they insisted on giving her a new pak or a atmosphere adjuster the ruse would have failed, it was easy hiding the small devise under her duster. now to get the package and get to the control brains before it was to late, she stuffed her human clothes in a bag which also contained a small rounded object quickly she zipped up the bag and left the entertainment area she could see Zim and Dib looking around for her but they looked right over the Irken striding by them. It didn't take her long to find where her crate was stored she picked it up from a bored looking service drone and carted it off on a hover dolly, security was rather lax considering she was headed straight for the real rulers of the empire, the control brains word was law and not even the Tallest could contradict it. She placed her hand over a scanner designed to let only Irkens in, it beeped and the door slid open she pushed her cargo ahead of her, she could barley see what was ahead of her with the crate being so big in comparison to her Irken form, the door slid shut behind her and she was plunged into compete blackness, she panicked when she heard something metal moving toward her, she ran but the cable attached to her pak and lifted her off the ground she struggled for a bit until her pak received the command for her body to be still more cables shot out and secured her arms and legs to be sure.

The lights came on reveling the tallest standing beside the control brains "You came early, just like a Irken never late, not even for their trial" Zim and Dib burst in at that moment they too were secured "And here are the witnesses just in time, we can get Kim's trail started "What? You would do this to her after she helped her save the Empire from the Dhahmons, would you go back on your word to keep Earth free as well?" "She was a soldier when she committed those crimes, even on Earth there is no statue of limitations on murder, and as a soldier she must face all of her actions including today's by brining unknown objects to the control brains" "Look at my bag please" she gasped out, it was hard to think as info was being downloaded from her pak and probe, Purple carefully unzipped the bag revealing the contents, gasping he ran to the crate and with his spider legs tore it open the sides fell away reveling dozens of antique paks. Purple yelled at a nearby helper drone "Get these paks to the download station pronto! He reverently picked up the one from her bag and placed it in a download station himself. "The control brains have come to a decision given the new data recovered from the Explorer's base on Earth and the info downloaded from the pack as the one known as the great destroyer" The pak was removed from Kim's back, since it was old it didn't come off easily, then another cable came and removed the probe from her brain once they were both gone and Kim could think past the pain she smelled the blood and promptly threw up only problem was being held in the upright position she couldn't do it properly, she started choking on it. "She's dieing" Dib cried

"The sentence the control brains has decided on is not guilty, citing rule 45829043 initiated by Tallest Blue stating that a if one of a life pair is murdered the surviving life mate cannot be held responsible for his or her actions before or after the incident, as losing the life mate is more than punishment enough." A new pak was attached to Kim's body, she jerked a few times then her breathing steadied but she still didn't move "Zim why isn't she moving" "A pak transfer is in progress it takes a while there is over 300 years of info stored in her old pak and probe and since the probe interface hasn't been used in over 500 years except on prisoners it will be a while" Zim and Dib were released Dib walked up to the tallest who were supervising the antique paks being downloaded "Just what is going on here?" "By Irken honor she couldn't tell us outright, so she left little clues, by first telling us that one of the Explorers by the name of Ber fed her snacks, and by giving us her true name, you yourself were fed clues which you told Zim who told us about the crate being a promise to be fulfilled. It's a Irken soldiers duty to make sure any Irkens who are killed in the line of duty has their paks returned to Irk, A life pair as rare as that is, is even rarer yet that one survives the other, when one does survive they try to bring the pak directly to the control brains, in hopes that they will resurrect their partner." "I don't think Kim knew that the control brains could do that though, she was sad every time she talked about her promise to someone special to her"

"That has worked in her favor, the control brains have ruled in her favor since she kept to Irken rule and brought back all the paks not just Ber's and she didn't beg for him to be brought back"

"What they are going to resurrect her life mate! How?" "All Irken DNA is stored for 355 years after their death 350 years is a paks limit to store memory without degrading while in stasis. It's rare for an Irken to be brought back after death unless he might have crucial info that's needed for an outside court, most won't accept the control brains word, they prefer a living witness. Or that the Irken in question is life bonded to an honorable Irken"

"Ber is coming back?" Kim's groggy voice held such hope "Yes you both earned it." "When can I see him?" "Soon, he should be ready when your pak transfer is complete" "Wha?" Kim's green Irken eyes were barly open she had been fighting off the sedative influence of the linkup "Pak?" "Yes you have a new pak, the old one was way out of date and no longer fully functional, it was doing major damage when you shifted, the new pak like Dib's is programmed for a shape shifter and you will find the interface far better than the old pak and probe combo, you wouldn't have been able to join the control brains with just you pak your personality was stored in the probe and only memories were in the pak.

Kim blanched, had she died when she tried to suicide when Ber died or those other times she was so close to death, she wouldn't have joined Ber in the control brains, she was now glad that Tallest Blue and the swollen eyeballs had brought her back to life.

"Why are you doing this for her" Zim inquired "had we just downloaded the paks we would have reluctant but grateful servant of the Empire, By bringing back her life mate we will have a Soldier whose loyalty is unquestionable." A door opened up and a few drones were escorting a confused looking green eyed Irken, he looked up "Kim! Is that you you've gotten taller, and you kept your promise" the green eyed Irken was jumping for joy nearly reaching Kim who was suspended from the ceiling, finally the cables released her and she fell into Ber's arms "Ber I've missed you so much, do you know how long I've waited to join you, only I thought it would be in the control brains, I can't believe I'm holding you" "three hundred and forty seven years is a long time to wait" she pulled back "You knew?" "Yes our personalities are stored in our paks and we are somewhat aware, you will see when your pak is removed for the fist time" Kim shuddered "I don't want to remove it, I don't want to find out, it was bad enough waiting without you, I can't imagine what it was like for you to be alone in your pak" she snuggled in close and twitched a lekku close to Ber an obvious invitation to join lekku together, he took it they both sighed as the lekku touched. "It really is you, Oh Ber I can't loose you again"

"How long are they going to be sappy like that" Zim complained "Quite some time" Red sighed if it weren't for the fact that we will be putting him in the same classes as her, we might have had to use a crow bar to get her to class and by the way we will be moving them to the housing unit beside yours you will still have to keep an eye on them, but they will be so busy eyeing each other for a few weeks you shouldn't have any trouble "I thought Ber is ranked Explorer why is he in the same classes as Kim who is soldier?" "you didn't get a good look at her schedule did you Zim she's in the Elite advancement, yes she does have to retake some of the soldier programs and a few on Explorers, but her talents will be best used in the elite, you seen how she is capable of figuring out advanced tactics, which gained your team many victories." "Zim could make plans as well she just made them faster" "Zim remember Explorer rank is almost equal to Elite just a different field and you will be the one leading a team deep into Dhahmon territory" "Tallest Red is right Zim is good to have been entrusted to such a important mission, Zim is just sad that such a good team is being broken up." "Although Dib will be staying on Earth the Explorers will need protection in the Dhahmon territory perhaps we will see to arranging a few Elite on the roster."

(Distraction served; oh I know I'm being ever so bad by brining a character back from the dead but I needed something to keep the great devourer busy otherwise she would have eaten up most of the fic herself, original characters are evil that way.

Now that this chapter is up the rest of the Irken Explorers chapters will appear on my deviant art I do suggest reading it as the next chapter in this fic will contain spoilers for the explores fic)


	3. Chapter 3

Academy Days Chapter 3 

(I don't own IZ all original characters are mine, this was going to be a little interlude featuring Ber's POV of his courtship of the great devourer but after the fourth page I realized it had gotten out of hand. Damn original characters and their plot stealing! Ber's story will be on Deviantart only, along with its companion fic the Irken Explorers so no spoilerific stuff in this chapter)

Once classes started they found that things were far harder than originally expected, Dib hadn't realized that there was so much to Irken politics, he had assumed that it was invade a planet, destroy everything, subjugate the people then eat snacks. Irkens did have several species they had treaties with rather than conquering them outright, Earth was no exception, the Tallest had actually gotten a good deal out of Earth compared to other treaties, Earth however had also gotten a good deal since the other treaties were with races with enough military might to cause Irk problems. He also had to learn quite a bit on internal Irken politics which for the most part was height based, all Irkens had to take some military training if they didn't excel or weren't tall enough they went to other industries mainly Services or Sciences, Services was basically a dead end with little chance of advancement or glory, Sciences could get you a esteemed position of Explorer, Military was were every Irken wanted to be it was the best place for advancement and glory with several levels to advance to including Invader and elite, from Military and sometimes Sciences a Irken could advance to Politics if he was tall enough, thankfully Dib was considered tall for a Irken which was a bit shorter than his human self, he hadn't quite figured out why that was yet, he had also noticed that Kim's Irken form was shorter than her human form which was shorter than her werewolf form and as a human she was a impressive six feet tall, but even her towering werewolf form was no match for the Tallest who both stood well over seven feet tall, Dib guessed that they might be close to eight feet but never having seen a eight foot human he had nothing to compare them to.

If learning Irken politics wasn't bad enough he had basic military training as well, since he was part Irken it was required, he thought dodging bullies and fighting Zim was bad, this was ten times worse after every training session he stumbled out but body and mind sore, he was competing with Irkens half his size, who had already had some military strategy downloaded into their paks, Dib so far had refused any downloads worried that they might contain stuff that would warp his personality, he wanted to finish this as much of his mind intact, he had already suffered from some of the preloaded stuff in his pak, he did feel grateful for some of it though, it had helped him fit in with Irken society, most of his time off he spent in Irken form exploring Irk and not trying to look like a tourist. Kim and Ber had finally gotten out of they're sickening loveydoving stage and were acting more normal, the heavy class load didn't seem to affect Kim much but Dib could see that Ber's and Zim's lekku drooped tiredly at every group outing, he suspected that his did as well but couldn't tell for a ego ridden species they weren't narcissistic mirrors were hard to come by and Dib didn't have enough monies to buy one, perhaps he'll ask Gaz to send one with the next batch of training recruits, and to make it a mandatory packing item for anyone traveling to Irk he was getting a bit tired of seeing messy hair on the other humans, many thankfully had decided to go with the old Earth military tradition of shaving the hair to a manageable length, Dib was growing his out, without a mirror he couldn't do a proper job of shaving around the lekku he had nicked one of the sensitive antenna once and didn't dare try it again until he got a mirror.

Their world narrowed down to classes as what little free time they had Dib called his sister often checking on her and Earth, so far all the Irkens were doing was setting up a big station where mars used to be and recruiting humans, so far they were only taking the willing that met their high standards, so far Earth was thriving under Irken rule, it came as a bit of a surprise when they were on one of group outing to one of Irks many markets, they came across a human selling Earth wares, "Hey if it isn't Earth's favorite heroes! Come here I'll give you a discount" the stall contained all sorts of stuff from all over Earth ranging from silk scarves to poky, Dib found a mirror that was marked at a reasonable price and bought himself a few packages of Earth snacks that he missed, Kim bough a few trinkets and snacks which she shared with Ber, Zim just distained everything until Dib shoved a poky stick in his mouth, he knew it was wheat based an Zim was capable of eating it, instantly there was another poky convert, Zim bought quite a few packages "I'm going to give some to My Tallest, to show them how grateful Zim is to be allowed to train as a Explorer, I won't disappoint them" Zim then left to look for his Tallest.

Dib ever curios asked "So how did you manage to set up shop on Irk so fast?" "Ah you see I was smart, I had a few wise investments already I withdrew them and convinced the board of directors at Membrane labs, to start making transport ships, the Eagles were already faster than the Irken ships, imagine what a fast shipping business could do without items getting damaged in transit, they agreed and also started making fast transportation service between planets, so my investment has gotten me rich, but I also want to see the stars so here I am, I also get to see happy Earth soldiers who gladly buy things that remind them of home, plus Irk merchandise sells well on Earth too, I have to be careful though I can't ship harmful substances so everything is screened both coming and going they only allow me enough water for each stay and I have to wear a atmosphere modifier but all is good." "I'm glad to hear it, I'll give you a recommendation if Zim does give the Tallest pokey you won't be able to keep it on the shelves, you might want to start bringing entire shipments of just poky" "Yes good advise from Dib Membrane, this will make you richer as well" "what?" "You are heir to your father's fortune No? Earth dollars are now as good as Irken monies, you are very rich man, I bet many females both Earth and Irk will want to talk with Dib" the shop keeper winked at Dib he smiled nervously thanked the shop keep and left to catch up with Ber and Kim.

He wasn't sure what to make of it, he didn't know if he wanted to date a Irken female and he was to busy to find a human girl his age that was training on Irk, and even if he did Kim had told him that he would greatly outlive ordinary humans just look at Kim she was nearly 400 years old and she didn't look a day over 25, Irkens could live for up to about a thousand years, he was then sharply wrapped on the head "you almost walked into the tentacle room trust me you don't want to go into that club" "Sorry I was woolgathering" "about?" "Girls and the ethics of dating ether humans or Irkens" "heavy stuff, don't worry about it till the problem comes up", "the shop keeper said that My fathers company is doing great business with Irk and now I'm very rich, he said females of both species will come panting over me" Ber laughed "oh that's rich a Irken female running after a male like a earth dog in heat, you human friend knows little of Irken females, they wont go for a rich male they prefer to get glory and riches on their own. Then they choose a mate equal to them. And for the Earth females most here are to busy in their studies to go boy chasing. So you are safe for now. Worry about it when the female starts to court you not before" "Thanks I feel better"

Zim indeed found his Tallest and presented them with many boxes of poky, they were suspicious of the gift till Zim ate one himself, Purple ever curios when it comes to snacks nibbled a stick, soon the whole box was empty Zim gave him another box "Mine give me!" Red then sampled a box and was soon scarfing them down as quickly as Purple "You Zim good work finding a new and awesome snacks, here go and buy every last one the shop keep has before other Irkens get a hold of them" "Yes my tallest right away my tallest!" Zim scurried off pleased that he had finally really pleased his tallest and he didn't even have to blow anything up.

Finally they were adjusting to the heavy class load after a year, and Dib was getting homesick, there was no growing things on Irk the air always smelled the same, even with it's vast entertainments Irk itself was boring, Gaz for his birthday sent him a miniature fruit tree and sunlamp, he tended it with his water rations, he was carefully trimming it when Zim came in ""Guess what Dib stink?" "What?" "No guess" "Um you blew up something" "Nothing major but that's not what the news is, the Tallest is giving all trainees a summer holiday" "What I thought that Irkens don't take breaks" "They do just usually not trainees, but since there is so many humans training now, and they were all looking wilted, the tallest deiced that the Earth tradition of a holiday is good," "To bad we can't visit Earth it took us a year to get here and the new fast transportation takes 5 months" "Dib we can, the mars station is finished and you have enough monies to transport home" "really that's great who else is coming?" "all of our group, you me and the life pair" Zim had taken to calling Ber and Kim the life pair as they were never seen far apart "when is this holiday?" "a few days from now, Zim plans on buying lots of pokey on Earth, I can use it for many bribes" as soon as the tallest had taken a liking to the new snack many Irkens used hard earned monies to try and secure the snack, the tallest had made a deal with the shop keep for private shipments in exchange for easing his import restrictions, extra water became the hot commodity but sold only to humans, as well as a few other items the humans found harmless but were otherwise contraband. Dib was really looking forward to this trip, and as much as any sibling would hate to admit it he missed his sister.

(Poky poky every where, my favorite is strawberry, and No Dib isn't courting Zim by force feeding him a snack, he was just getting him to shut up about inferior Earth products, as for Zim offering the tallest snacks that just basic hero worship, Irkens bring food to the tallest all the time, in hopes of being recognized by the great ones)


	4. Chapter 4

Academy Days Chapter 4 

(The usual I don't own Zim stuff and original characters are mine yada yada. On with the fic. I had to upgrade the story from T to M because of this chapter)

Unfortunately two things were wrong with their little teleportation trip, it wasn't set up for humans yet and it wasn't a straight jump they had to go through several stations before they reached Earth, they were on jump number three when the station went down.

"How long before the teleporters are back up?" Zim growled at a station attendant, the incoming signals still worked for a while before they too went down and now the station was quite crowded, which was partly why Zim was in such a bad mood "We don't even know why they went down in the first place and we have also lost all incoming and outgoing transmissions were floating blind and there is no way of contacting other stations", Kim's head shot up at the news "sounds like a trap!" she reacted immediately to the sound of a explosion and was the fist to be taken down by some weird clear goo which hardened on contact, her upper half of her body was completely covered aside from her head which left her free to curse in every language she knew which included some Dib hadn't even heard before. Whoever was attacking was smart they were taking all the Irkens down first, the clear goo immobilizing them and their formable paks, it wasn't long before the entire station was captured. Dib tried to struggle out of the goo confining him, he then tried to shift to human to break it but he found he couldn't even try; something was blocking that ability, which is probably why Kim was swearing a blue streak.

With everyone secured the attackers made themselves known.

"WE have claimed this station in the name of the Resity, You are now hostages, in a short while we will be making our demands to the Irken leaders, if they cooperate and free the planets on our list, you will be freed" all the Irkens on the station started laughing one called out "Fools there is no such thing as a Irken hostage, it doesn't mater if we live or die as long as we serve the empire"

"Sir I've found some Irkens dressed in Earth blue uniforms, No humans among them though" "That's who were looking for, bring them here. Only be careful with them they are far more dangerous than they look." they all struggled as they were picked up, Kim still cursing switched to a particular language which Dib suspected was the aliens who were carrying them native tongue, as she had gotten a cuff across the head after a short run of what sounded to be particularly nasty insults, she smiled and laughed said one short sentence which had the aliens blanch, Dib had no idea what she said but he guessed it had something to do with what she'd do to them if she got free. They were deposited in front of a group of aliens, each one of a different species, a little purple one with horns was in front "Ah Zim unpleasant to meet you again, which one is Dib? And who are the two others" "Not nice to see you Lord Nar, If you want to find out who's who ask them yourself"

"I'll do it Lord Nar" a huge reptilian creature with a impressive set of scars across his chest stepped forward, Dib didn't want to meet the creature that did that to him it looked like the claws had torn the muscle right down to the bone, the reptilian scooped up Kim "No matter what form you wear I always find my bounty, You may have got away from me 200 years ago, but now look who's the helpless one" "Crafraux I'm surprised you survived, you know you're the only bounty hunter who tried to claim on me who lived to tell the tail" "Because of you I lost my reputation! I always get my bounty always!" "Not this time I'm afraid my bounty is null an void, you see I turned myself in and my trial has already been held, which means no more bounty for you to collect" "I heard they rewarded you, gave you your true love back," Crafraux was really sneering now he continued "And they made you a full citizen, you don't deserve anything they have given you, if I can't collect my bounty I will extract my vengeance on your hide" he reached up and grabbed one of Kim's long delicate lekku, bending it elicited a shriek from her, Ber shrieked as well and lunged forward "there is the boyfriend so the other must be Dib, you take him and I'll have my fun here" he continued to bend and twist her lekku, Lord Nar spoke up

"This wasn't part of the deal we need her as well to negotiate with Earth and I wouldn't recommend doing that any further, deliberately harming an Irkens lekku is punishable by death, don't you see the affect her screams are having on the other Irkens"

"I'm a Crafrucian prince they cant harm me it will mean war" the big bounty hunter continued to twist her lekku oblivious to the low growl being emitted by every Irken in the station all eyes were focused on him, Dib was growling himself he remembered how much it hurt just to nick a lekku with a razor blade, for anyone to deliberately cause pain was unthinkable, he knew that he was being controlled partially by Irken instincts at this point but he didn't care his friend was being ruthlessly hurt and it had to stop. He would have started stocking forward like many of the Irkens if he hadn't been already grabbed by Lord Nar's strongmen. Then came a sickening crack, lekku were very flexible and strong however everything has a breaking point. Kim had abruptly stopped screaming and went limp her eyes blank, Dib would have thought her dead if she wasn't visibly shivering.

You could have heard a pin drop from across the station, every Irken were silently staring, then all the eyes turned cold and angry, a shout started near the front and was soon picked up by every Irken there "Broken"

Crafraux dropped Kim and faced the Irkens who were already attacking, Lord Nar's strong men grabbed Kim and hauled her and Dib away, Lord Nar was visibly upset "Retreat everyone we will have to make do with two hostages, we don't want to stay on a station with maddened Irkens" "Lord Nar what about the bounty hunter prince?" "He sealed his fate by breaking a Irkens lekku, even with their packs disabled and their hands bound they wont stop attacking till he's nothing more than a bloodstain" "Why are they doing this? I thought they hated the great devourer" "Instinct pure instinct, look at Dib he's half human and still if we were to let him go right now he would join the carnage. The situations bad but I think with these two as hostages we still can get what we want, hopefully the Crafrucians won't blame us for his death and take out the loss of a prince out on the Irkens"

Dib slowly came out of the rage, to find that he was senselessly battering himself against a steel door, stepping back he huffed and tried to bring himself back into focus, he was still very angry and still helplessly bound in the hard goo casing, he looked around to see where he was, boxes strapped against walls and a pile of blankets and pillows thrown in one corner, he guessed it was a cargo hold of a ship, he had no idea how long he had been throwing himself against the door it was covered in green blood he guessed his, but most of the wounds had already healed over thanks to the werewolf genome that he had used to make the wereirken formula, what it didn't fix was lost energy, even with a pak boosting his energy he had tired himself out. He stumbled over to the blankets and sat down as best he could without being able to use his arms; he was started when a pile of the blankets moved away "don't touch. Don't touch Kim, everything hurts"

"Kim? It's ok its Dib remember, I won't hurt you" "Everything hurts Kim, stay away" Dib realized she was only speaking in Irken and with the weird phraseology and third person referencing Zim used; he had no idea what to make of it.

"She's been broken; Irkens rarely recover fully from having their lekku broken, it's almost as bad as being defective but they are not looked down upon for it" Lord Nar had entered the room when he had seen that Dib had calmed down enough to be rational "hopefully because she is who she is, and the fact she's life paired she might recover" "You took her away from Ber! how can she recover without him you bastard!" Dib was still quite angry he lunged at Nar only to have his feet incased in goo he fell to the floor.

"I'm sorry Dib we need her and yourself to free several planets under Irken rule"

"I'll roast all of the Resistys guts for dinner for this"

"Dib! Stop thinking like an Irken and use your human brain! People are suffering needlessly" "Go to Hell" "I see there is no rationalizing with you when you are in this state I'll check on you in a few hours"

The station was a mess with several Irkens roaming about looking for anything that moved that wasn't Irken, Ber covered from head to foot in Crafrucian blood was kneeling down clutching something thin and black to his chest stroking it gently, the blood had acted like a solvent to the goo and everyone was free, the Irkens who had recovered first from the rage were getting the station back up and running, but they weren't allowing any travel in or out till the rest of the Irkens calmed down, so far they were reporting to the Tallest what had occurred "Sirs we looked everywhere it looks like they took Dib and Kim with them" "where's Zim?" "Confined, he'll attack anything that moves and it doesn't look like he'll calm down soon" "I expect not, he had the tip of his Lekku broken when he was a small smeet, it was accidental and it grew back. But it affected him mentally, poor Zim, he's almost defective from it" the Tallest Red feeling sorry for Zim? Stranger things have happened when someone's lekku broke. Purple asked the next question "what about Ber? I can't expect he's taking this well" "No sirs he's not, he keeps muttering about how it's all his fault all the pain she's ever been through" "send both of them to the Massive when Zim calms down enough to shove in a transporter, we have rebels to hunt"

(Irkens lekku have thousands of nerve endings collecting all sorts of information, hurting one is far more painful than cutting your tongue or jabbing yourself in the eye with a straw, they do have some protection against accidental hurts and will tolerate a lot of abuse before it breaks, once broken its like having a raw nerve that's constantly being stimulated, I can relate somewhat, I was kicked directly in the eye when I was a kid, I lost all motor control and was insensible for hours, when I finally was capable of rational thought the pain was all I could think about, I haven't yet come across a pain to compare to nerve damage. Eyes thankfully heal quick lekku don't, even with werewolf healing to back it up she'll be in a lot of pain for a long time)


	5. Chapter 5

Academy Days Chapter 5 

(I don't own IZ original characters are mine.

Just talking about having my eye injured brought back phantom pains,

I was playing chicken on the monkey bars when I was a kid, next thing I recall I was in the nurses office with a cold compress over my eye in a world of pain, I had gotten kicked directly in the eye, I no longer have 20/20 but I'm glad I have a normal looking eye and I can see out of it, even if it's blurry)

Dib had finally calmed himself completely down; it wasn't hard to do when he was completely immobilized, it was a while before Lord Nar came in, he walked up to Dib and sprayed something on his feet, the goo became gelatinous and Dib was able to shake his feet free "I won't free your hands until you promise that you will behave" "I've calmed down, I remember that you told him not to hurt her lekku so it's not your fault" "Good I need your help to treat her lekku to help it heal, but no one can get near her except you" Lord Nar sprayed Dibs arms, any he thankfully shook them free, the hardened goo still covered his pak and was still somehow interfering with his ability to shift forms "How do you intend to help her, there is no way I'll hold her down for bandaging, it will hurt her more both physically and emotionally" "The goo we used was originally developed for raw nerve wounds like broken lekku, it was expensive to make until the Crafrucians started supplying us with the rare chemical that makes it so expensive in the first place. What makes the goo so remarkable is it absorbs extra electrical impulses, yet leaves the necessary ones for life alone, and by absorbing these extra energies it becomes hard. For a broken lekku it will absorb all of the raw impulses emitting from the broken end and protect it while it heals" "So why do you have this substance and not the Irkens" "the Irkens are too proud to admit they need this stuff, and if you haven't noticed my species Vortians has horns we need it for when our horns break to close to the nerve, thankfully we don't suffer as much shock as Irkens do." "So what exactly do you want me to do?" "simply bring this bottle close enough for her to be able to smell it, if she can smell it's not harmful she might let you spray it on her lekku, Irkens are really uncooperative when it comes to damaged lekku so be careful"

Being uncooperative was a understatement, Dib couldn't get anywhere near her and when he did he was kicked and punched, he cursed whoever freed her arms, even pain maddened she was a formable opponent, Dib sat in the middle of the blanket pile giving up rubbing the side of his chest he noticed that Kim had inched closer, so he decided to play the age old waiting game it seemed like forever before she was within grabbing distance but Dib stayed still she soon was very close, Dib licked his lips a human habit which carried over in his Irken form. He spoke softly "Kim I was given a spray to make your lekku stop hurting, do you want me to use it "No it will hurt Kim, everything hurts Kim" she scooted away quickly and stayed out of grabbing reach "this will make the pain stop" "there is always pain everyone always wants to hurt Kim" "Has Ber?" "No Ber only abandoned Kim not his fault" "Ber and Zim will be rescuing us, do you want to hug Ber when he comes" "touches hurt, hugs hurt, linking lekku…. I will try spray, promise Kim pain will stop?" "I promise" Kim came forward slowly then she sat in front of Dib with the injured lekku where he could easily spray it, she had her eyes shut tight her whole body shaking, Dib quickly sprayed the broken end, her body suddenly went ridged then slumped over completely he grabbed her before her head hit the ground, gently lying her head down on one of the pillows with the injured lekku the one facing up.

"good work Dib now we can finally have a look at the damage, Ah good it was a clean break to bad there is so much soft tissue exposed, I'm surprised she was able to walk or talk considering how much of the lekku is missing, but look already there has been new growth it will still be several weeks before we can stop using the spray and several months before it matches it's counterpart again and when it does it will always be a bit of a lighter color." "Will she recover mentally" "She'll probably drop the third person when she wakes up, Zim's lekku was left to re-grow on its own so he was in the pain maddened state for too long and using the third person became habit. However she may be touch shy for a very long time and her spirit may be broken, theirs nothing that can make a Irken feel more helpless than having their lekku brutalized"

Kim finally awoke to a world free of all encompassing pain, she sat up and felt dizzy the ground wasn't where her senses said it should be, everything felt weird, sounds echoed and felt hollow, smells, everything was wrong she lifted her lekku up one felt heavy and short, she got a extraordinary sensation of pain whenever she moved the short one, so she left it to hang flat on her head, she drew her knees up to her chin and whished the ground would stop shifting where it was supposed to be, she tried looking elsewhere but turning her head made her dizzy, something moved near her she refused to look lest the ground move again and she would fall over "Hey Kim good to see you up again, how are you feeling" "I'm dizzy because the ground won't stop moving and my lekku hurts like hell" "The ground isn't moving, well it sort of is we are on a spaceship but the dampening field takes care of movement, I'm glad to hear you not using the third person to talk about yourself again" Kim vaguely remembered the time after her lekku broke, what she remembered most was the pain and how every sensation was exaggerated to the extreme of pain. Dib was about to touch her shoulder in a comforting gesture she jerked away, she remembered how much a simple touch hurt, but the movement threw her off balance she fell to the floor, the only thing that hurt was her broken lekku when it was jarred out of position and it sent pain throughout her body, ok lesson learned touch shouldn't hurt but watch out moving the lekku suddenly. She let Dib help her up, she leaned against one of the crates, she didn't yet trust herself to keeping balance "I'm broken and useless Dib I can't even stand without fear of falling, some great warrior I turned out to be" "Don't say that! You will learn to balance again your brain just needs to learn to deal with a shorter lekku" "that could take months! And it won't help us get back to Ber and Zim. It won't help us get home"

Dib was flabbergasted this didn't sound like the ever confident Kim he knew, she sounded defeated, even back on Earth when they were fighting the impossible odds against the Dhahmons she never sounded the least bit afraid, Lord Nar was right her spirit had been broken with her lekku "That's no way for the Great Devourer to talk, I've never known you to back down from a fight, why are you quitting now because you simply can't find where the floor should be? You are a disgrace to Earths colors, Earth never backs down even against impossible odds remember." Dib worried for a second that he had pushed to far. Her good lekku drooped as low as the injured one, it stayed that way for quite some time. Then when Dib thought he might have to slap her to get her to respond there was a spark of defiance in her eyes. "no you are right, I can't quit yet." she stood up using a crate for support, she swayed and took a hesitant step forward then a second one she was away from the crate though she couldn't keep her balance. She fell to the blanket pile. "Damn it" she crawled back to the crate and walked back and forth along it's length not straying far from the blankets because she still fell often. Dib made no motion to help, he knew that she had to do this on her own to regain confidence.

After a while Lord Nar came in and watched as Kim was slowly regaining her balance. "I would like to talk with you about the Resisty, our planets are enslaved under Irken rule our people used "I don't care" "What! We heard so much about you before you sided with the Irkens, how you were the only one to see the invader as a threat and protected Earth for years before the Dhahmons came and now you won't help other peoples who need you?" Dibs eyes went hard and cold "I won't deal with terrorists." "The Resisty isn't a terrorist organization were freedom fighters." "taking a transporter station, holding hostages, torturing prisoners sounds like terrorism to me." "I won't be held responsible for that bounty hunters actions! if it weren't for the fact that he's a Crafrucian prince and the Crafrucians wouldn't deal with us if we didn't take him along, there would be no way I would allow someone like him in the Resisty!" "Dealing with crime lords, the list keeps compounding." "I truly regret what happened to your friend, but please consider the plight of other people" "Go away"

Lord Nar sighed, he had no idea what to do with Dib. Earth and Irk were refusing to negotiate, and with Dib as an Irken there was no way he would listen ether. Lord Nar wouldn't free Dib's pak so he could transform to human that would allow the Irkens to home in on the pak's signal then they would be done for. "Sir! The Irken armada is approaching our location!" "How is that even possible? They shouldn't be able to track us" "Do you think the tales are true about Irken life pairs? That the mates can find each other no matter how far apart they are?" "Damn I hadn't thought of that if it's true we have to get rid of them! Load them into a shuttle and launch them toward the nearest Irken controlled planet, hurry!"

Dib and Kim were roughly grabbed and hauled away just before Dib was shoved into the shuttle Lord Nar gave him a large package "There is enough goo to treat your friend until she's done healing. The instructions are in there, plus some cleanser to free your packs but don't use it till you reach you destination or we will self destruct the shuttle." He then shoved Dib inside. Sealed the hatch and stepped away so the shuttle could launch. Everyone watched tensely as the shuttle sped away and as the Armada crept ever closer. "Sir the massive is changing it's coarse it's now adjusting to intercept the shuttle" "Thank goodness"

On the massive "We have the shuttle in a tractor beam sir, we will dock it in cargo bay 2" Ber was already running off the bridge Zim and the Tallest followed at a more sedate pace. When they arrived at the cargo bay Ber was practically dancing in place waiting for the shuttle to be docked and opened before the hatch was fully opened he dived inside "Hey watch it Ber! Be patient she's alright considering the circumstances" Ber had plowed into Dib as he went straight for Kim, she had passed out on the shuttle trip the movement of the shuttle was too much for her skewed sense of balance. Dib came out of the shuttle first "remind me never to get in between a life pair ever again, it's hazardous." Ber then came out with a reawakened Kim his lekku twined possessively around her good one, Dib thought she looked a lot steadier and stronger now that she was in Ber's company again, she still was hesitant walking and she leaned heavily on Ber. Dib gave Ber the package of goo for her lekku.

"Dib come here. We need to talk" "Yes my Tallest?" "First off how is she?" "She's completely out of commission for quite a while, and I'm not sure if she'll regain her confidence" "Darn it when the empire tried to kill her she wouldn't die or give up, the Resisty gets a hold of her when we need her and she's broken" "What's going on my Tallest?" "The Crafrucians have declared war, since their prince died on the station and they are blaming the Irkens" "if it was that reptile thing he's the one who broke Kim's lekku he deserved whatever he got" "Unfortunately that won't help us, even if he was in league with the Resisty, he was a prince. If he had died going after Kim's bounty 200 years ago it might not have been as bad, but he was torn apart in the station, the desecrating of his body was unforgivable" "Breaking Kim's lekku was unforgivable!" "You see, neither side is willing to back down so we are forced to go to war. We are expecting you to go home and prepare Earth. Thankfully Earth is good at producing battle ships; they haven't stopped making them since the Dhahmon war, we will need every ship and every trained warrior, Vacation has been cancelled. Let's pray that Kim is one of the rare few that can recover from being broken"

(Finally I get around to a good protagonist, I'm sorry but the Resisty sucks as a villain, they hardly make good terrorists

I made a picture of Ber consoling Kim on DA I also have a few other pictures related to the Invader Dib series and a few related fics not available on FF so go and browse my gallery and see my GIR costume)


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